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From: "Bea Gremlich" ohana@chickmail.com Hit send prematurely. Here's the setlist from the Providence show (I actually got a hold of the actual setlist, so now I know the real names of the new songs): son of sam Also, I recorded the show on minidisc and it came out great. I'll be transferring it to CD-R and I'm looking to trade for other shows from this tour. I am looking particularly for shows that have that third brand new song (the name escapes me), and i me mine. Anyone interested in trading (CD-R preferably, but I'll consider tape), please email me privately. What a great show. By the way, I got an autograph signed with a heart, and he remembered my name from a quasi show in la. I am a lucky girl!!! STEVE-sorry I missed you :( Bea --- "If patience started a band I'd be her biggest fan." -- E. Smith
From: stephen shutt shutt@fas.harvard.edu I wish I had the stamina to tackle the Providence review tonight, but I'm getting ready to dash off and see my ex perform in this cute new baby dyke band (they've dragooned him to be the bass player), called Pelvic Circus. They're performing in one of those crazy shows that will go on into the wee hours of the morning. The legendary Sarah Dougher is one of the acts--I think she will go on about 10 p.m., and if I can stand all the nicotine reek and the fatigue of a very long and demanding work day I would love to stay and hear her. For any of you in the ambient of Cambridge, Mass., who sees these words in time, it's a 21+ show at the VFW at 298 Green St., #8, in Central Square. The Operators are playing between Pelvic Circus and Sarah Dougher, and the evening closes with Kill Rock Stars band Bangs. Cover is 6 bucks. I'll just note that I loved the venue for the Prov show. Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel is a very nice little club, and is well ventilated (which makes a big difference for us non nicotine addicts). It was amazing how the crowd suddenly SWELLED once Elliott came onstage. Tickets were still onsale when I arrived at the club around 9ish after a lovely Indian dinner with my friend Richard. I really envy those of you going up to Winooski tomorrow night--a small local venue is definitely the way to see Elliott. Unfortunately I am going to 2 different friends' concerts tomorrow night so I will miss out on the Vermont Maple Syrup extravaganza. (Image of Sam and Elliott giggling and pouring maple syrup over one another--yum!) I watched the first several songs from a viewpoint behind and to the left (facing the audience) of the stage, which gave me a really intimate view of the concert, and I caught some great little smiles Elliott gave Sam. I noticed how the music transfigured Sam--he went from looking kind of tired and pokey to a radiant music god! One of the roadies was working the sound board to ensure there was no repetition of the Boston debacle. (I was standing pretty much right next to the sound board for the first few songs.) Another thing I noticed about Sam that I thought was really cute, is that he sort of stands on tiptoe when he sings--especially the high notes. He literally "reaches" for those high notes. The set was pretty much identical to what they played in Boston, until they got to Independence Day. They didn't play Living in a Cage. I didn't bother to take notes so I can't tell you exactly what they did play, especially since at that point in the concert I was standing in the back, my eyes riveted on Elliott, more or less in a trance state. His face when he sings seems almost to float above the microphone. His eyes softly closed, sometimes squinting as if he were having a flashback to some sharp stab of emotion, at other times serene and at one with himself & the music. His long dark silky hair framing his face like a halo around a bodhisattva's transfigured visage. A sudden smile quivering over his lips like a wave crashing on the beach. His voice, now whispery & almost translucent, now hectoring and relentless, now high and vaporous and filled with almost unbearable rapture. Especially when he slowly floats from high note to high note on "Waltz No. 1" which is an incredible song whether live or on record. I kept thinking the concert couldn't get any better, and then he would find some new cascade of notes or choir of rhapsodies that transported the audience to a still higher realm of bliss. One of the kids on the street afterwards commented spontaneously: "It's like going to church." Yeah, like going to church is supposed to be--a true spiritual experience, a contact with something fine and authentic and genuinely transcendental. I loved hearing him do "Wouldn't Mama be proud," which is one of my favorites among the new songs. Hearing "Pretty (Ugly Before)" was even more magical than the night before in Boston. A strange thing--even though I didn't make a tape of either concert, I have had "Pretty (Ugly Before)" playing in my head off and on ever since Tuesday night. Possessed by Elliott! Please don't call Father Karras, I love having his music rule my head. The two closing numbers were awesome. A brand new arrangement of "Last Call" for full band. (He mentioned they had just learned this that day!) "Last Call" has always been a personal favorite of mine, and I never thought anything could improve upon hearing him do the song acoustic at the Cambridge Middle East show back in Feb. But I like the song with the full band even better. Sam's bass playing was just fantastic! Extraordinary. And the final number--he asked us "do you want a cover or not a cover," and people were screaming for "I Me Mine," but I'm so glad he opted for "Waltz No. 1" instead! Yeah, it would be great to hear him do another Geo. Harrison number again, but I'd rather hear Elliott if I have to choose. And "Waltz No. 1" is so incantatory and sublime ... a little corner of emotional alchemy made manifest in this vale of tears. So there you have it. Another classic concert people will reminisce about for years to come. You guys who are about to hear Elliott and his band are so lucky! Revel in the beauty, share in the ecstasy while it's here. xo, Steve
From: KneeXsocks@aol.com
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